“Dumpster Diving” is a series at Dynasty Football Factory that will help you find late-round hidden gems or cheap players to acquire. These players are far from perfect but they could potentially land you a high return on your investment. If something breaks right these players can have a measurable impact on your team(s) and you will be the manager with them stashed on your bench. If not, you cut bait and move on. You want assets on your team that will appreciate and that is the goal here. All of these players will be below the top 150 players as valued on keeptradecut.com
For this article, we dive into Sam Howell.
Howell currently sits at a ranking of 233 on KeepTradeCut.com. This means the dynasty community places 232 players with a higher dynasty value than Sam Howell. Some of the players with a higher trade value are Tyler Higbee, Chuba Hubbard, and J.D. McKissic. I would smash that accept button for any of these and many much higher for the chance to acquire Howell. In fact, as I was writing this article I just completed a trade of Odell Beckham for Howell.
This is big news. Carson Wentz has been considered a lock to be the starter this year after the Commanders acquired him in March. But why should he be considered a lock? His career to date has been extremely lackluster. His last three years have all resulted in completion percentages below 64% and sub-100 ratings. Frank Reich was hoping he could be a reclamation project from his early Eagles days but that simply didn’t happen. The Colts couldn’t wait to get rid of him and move on to Matt Ryan. The Commanders didn’t have to give up a lot to get Wentz. They swapped second-round picks with the Indianapolis Colts and also gave them a third-round pick this year and a conditional third-rounder in 2023.
Meanwhile, Howell has impressed the Commander’s staff so much this pre-season that he is now taking some first-team reps. Howell was selected in the fifth round of the NFL draft and of course, there is a meager success rate of quarterbacks selected this late. This led Howell to go in the third round of most dynasty rookie drafts.
Let’s dig deeper. Howell was long considered a top quarterback prospect in the 2022 class. In 2021, he was considered by most to be a first-round rookie draft lock in Superflex leagues.
The only question is in what order should Malik Willis, Matt Corral, and Sam Howell be selected. Kenny Pickett wasn’t in the picture until his breakout senior season when he (and Jordan Addison) lit up the college landscape.
Remember, Baker Mayfield was the first overall draft pick in the 2018 draft. He had a promising start to his NFL career before fading last year. This was high praise for Howell, from a respected NFL draft analyst
Then 2021 happened and Howell’s draft stock fell off a cliff.
Some analysts opined that he was simply a product of the talent around him with Dyami Brown, Dazz Newsome, Javonte Williams, and Michael Carter. Williams was drafted in the second round, Brown was drafted in the third round. Carter was drafted in the fourth round. Dazz Newsome was drafted in the sixth round. We are only two years into the careers of these four and Javonte will be the only starter this year. Did this talent make Howell the productive player he was or was it vice-versa?
The NFL certainly saw flaws in Howell’s game. Paramount among these were a slow release, accuracy questions, and taking too many sacks. What he lacks here he makes up with his confidence, leadership qualities, mobility, and ability to read the field. He has some warts but most rookies do, especially fifth-rounders.
His passing certainly dipped last year with career lows in completion percentage (62.5%), passing yards (3056), and QB rating (154.2).
The most exciting development to his game in 2021 was showcasing his rushing ability. The “Konami code” factor is what dynasty owners salivate over. Without the talent surrounding him as he had in 2020 Howell was asked to do more with less. This resulted in 828 yards and 11 touchdowns rushing. Howell also rushed for two touchdowns in his first preseason game against the Panthers.
Howell is not a perfect prospect but he has that “it” factor to him. This is that intangible quality you just can’t measure. A former sixth-rounder out of Michigan had that “it” intangible factor in a far greater capacity and turned into the greatest football player of all time. The odds are against Howell even becoming an NFL starter. But for the very low cost to acquire him vs. the potential rewards, you can reap he is well worth the risk.
I hope you enjoyed reading my article. My goal is to provide actionable advice you can utilize to improve your dynasty team. You can follow me on Twitter @force_fantasy. #DFFArmy #FantasyFootball #AlwaysBeBuilding #NFL #NFLDraft #NFLTransactions #NFLTrades #AlwaysBeScouting
